It’s a Beautiful Life!

Sunday was always going to be my non biking day, so the fact that I woke to rain hammering down on my skylight window had no detrimental effect to my mood whatsoever, I might even go for a jog as I like running in the rain!

The main reason I wanted this to be Reg’s rest day is because I need to plan my route to southern Spain, taking into account the intense heat of the inland areas and the Covid rules should I decide to stick to the coast for the 800 mile journey. That will entail Spain, Portugal, Spain and having the attention span of something that doesn’t have a very good attention span, I’m veering towards the ‘wing it’ approach.

Nothing really seems to fit, I have no set destination in Portugal, am double jabbed and have all the documentation to prove it, the chances of being stopped and checked (if I can find a suitable gap in the border crossing a la Steve McQueen in The Great Escape) is almost zero, and in the worst case scenario, *Reg can outrun anything else that the authorities have*.

*Although this is true, I won’t actually do it, as spending a week reliving Papillon’s life on Devil’s Island, surviving off the occasional cockroach isn’t the type of holiday accommodation I was hoping for. You sense a Steve McQueen theme developing?

Update: Carlos lives close to the Portuguese border and he reckons (with having the documentation I already have) I won’t have a problem, any issues I’ll just mention his name 😆

Sight Seeing

I’ve had this experience in Italy and it seems it’s also commonplace in Spain, where you have to book and sometimes pay to visit a nature site, no not a naturist’s site, I’ve found those to be free. 

I was chatting to a local couple here in the B&B the other night (in Spanish of course 😉) and saying that on my route into Galicia I planned to call in at Praia das Catedrais, they said that it has to be booked, so clever me went onto the website only to find there are no spaces left until after I am far away from the area, another failed attempt, so yet again a web photo will have to suffice.

Update #2

All my ‘one night stands’ are now booked from Galicia to Casares, not ideal but my preferred option. Starting on the night of 28th It’ll be:

Baiona (Spain)

Coimbra (Portugal)

Sintra (Portugal)

Huelva (Spain)

Join the dots.

This Evening

A funny thing happened on my way to the restaurant. I’m sure I saw the back end of a brown animal sticking out of a prickly hedge?! But going around to the other side I couldn’t see it, so I checked around the back again and sure enough there was a goat that appeared to be stuck. So, to hell with all this prickly stuff, me being in t shirt and shorts ‘n’ all, the animal needs help. As it turned out it was like the person helping the old lady to cross a road she didn’t want to! Many prickles, scratches and nettle stings later I managed to free the animal only to find it was quite happy munching away on the brambles and was actually tethered to a chain! Still, it worked up a thirst.

A Personal Note

It’s lovely seeing the young couple look across at the toddler of the slightly older couple, wave at her and then smile at each other as if to say “Someday”.

It makes me smile, it’s like I’m looking at my past and seeing the different stages of my life replayed in front of my eyes, and now I’m going through a different stage.

I haven’t yet learnt how to behave in a restaurant, I still feel a sense of awkwardness being at the only table occupied by one. The music playing in the background does nothing to help as I latch onto lines from various songs only for them to make my eyes fill. “Those were the best years of my life”, but it wasn’t the summer of ‘69, it was the winter of ‘79. But, in words from Rachel’s favourite film trilogy, Back to the Future, “The future hasn’t been written yet”, it’s up to me to write a good one for myself.

Even with the tears I still think life is beautiful, it’s yet another experience of being who we are.

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“Podria tomar una taza de te por favor” has become as much used as “Lo siento no hablo español”. It’s a life saver for an English person to be able to ask for a cup of tea, which is just what I need as my final night cap here.